WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement after releasing documents that show the Trump Administration transferred approximately $10 million away from FEMA to fund the administration’s immigration detention initiatives:

“This is a scandal. At the start of hurricane season—when American citizens in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still suffering from FEMA’s inadequate recovery efforts—the administration transferred millions of dollars away from FEMA. And for what? To implement their profoundly misguided ‘zero tolerance’ policy. It wasn’t enough to rip thousands of children out of the arms of their parents—the administration chose to partly pay for this horrific program by taking away from the ability to respond to damage from this year’s upcoming and potentially devastating hurricane season.”